Inside Out birthday-themed

Celebrating my youngest son who turned 7 with the Inside Out birthday-themed. It is inspired by the Inside Out movie that showcases the emotions inside the mind. There are joy, sadness, anger, fear, and disgust. A very good movie by Disney Pixar, highly recommended.

For the birthday cake, I made a White almond sour cream cake with marshmallow fondant icing. 
To make Joy figurine from fondant, you may find the tutorial here.

For a surprise, I made a polkadot pattern inside the cake. You may find the tutorial here.

Not to forget his birthday bento, with the Inside Out-themed as well :)

Inside the box :
1. Joy onigiri (white steamed rice coloured with tumeric powder, blue egg sheet for the hair and pupil, and also nori for the mouth and pupil).
2. Corn on the cob
3. Roast turkey
4. Roast carrots and celery
5. Red seedless grapes for recess

For the birthday decorations, you may find them here :

   

Wrap and Onigiri Bento

The boys had quite different lunches for today. My eldest son loves to eat rice so he had the onigiri bento lunch, while the youngest one chose to have wrap for his lunch. 

Although the boys don't really like tofu, I tried to incorporate tofu into the tofu and sausage roulade, and they don't mind at all!

Here I shared you the recipe :

Tofu and sausage Roulade

Ingredients :

300 gr white tofu

1 egg

100 gr prawn, minced

1 pcs carrot, grated

1 pcs spring onion, sliced

1/2 tsp chicken stock powder

1 tsp caster sugar

1/4 tsp pepper 

salt per taste

frankfurt sausage as needed

For frying :

1 egg, whisked 

Vegetable/ Canola oil as needed

Method :

1. Blend tofu until smooth, then mix with the other ingredients except the sausages. 

2. Take a little mixture and fry it. Then taste it. You can adjust the flavour as necessary.

3. Assemble the roulade using cling wrap, flatten the mixture as needed, then put the sausage on top, then roll the cling wrap and tighten both side.

4. Steam the roulade for around 20 minutes until cooked.

5. Set aside and let them cool in the fridge for a few hours.

6. Cut the roulade around 2 cm thick, dip in the egg mixture and fry until cooked.

7. Serve the roulade with tomato ketchup or sweet chili sauce

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Chicken wrap (with lettuce, grated carrot, roast chicken fillet, BBQ sauce, and cheese filling)
2. Fish cakes and tomato ketchup
3. Corn on the cob
4. Carrot sticks
5. Apple cuts for recess

And for my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Onigiri (decorated with nori and panda sticks)
2. Prawn tempura
3. Tofu and sausage roulades with tomato ketchup
4. Corn on the cob
5. Lettuce and carrot salad
6. Apple cuts for recess

Bento tool I used for this post :

Rice Balls Bento

The kids are still in the holiday, so I arranged a school holiday activity which is bento making. I really wanted to use my new lunch box, so we only made one set of bento for sharing. After brainstorming with the kids and checking what was left in the fridge, we came up with this idea. The kids were enjoying all the process, and gobbled up all the foods in no time :)

Details as below :

Inside this box :
1. A boy hard boiled egg (with spinach for the hair, nori for the eyes, the nose & the mouth, and red crab stick for the rosy cheeks)
2. A girl hard boiled egg (with carrot for the hair, spinach for the hair clips, nori for the eyes & nose, and red crabstick for the mouth)
3. Rose carved carrot and cucumber slices
4. Cheese Kransky sausages
5. Carved apple

And for the three types of rice balls/onigiri, there are :

1. Onigiri with salmon furikake on top

2. Onigiri wrapped with spinach leaf

3. Onigiri decorated with nori and carrot

Similar stuffs I used in this post :

   

Tiger Santa and Croissant

My eldest son loves rice. So I packed for him these cute tiger santa onigiri using my favourite tool, below :

My little one prefers ham & cheese croissant instead. So I packed for him a simple bento that only needs a little time to prepare.

What I prepared for my eldest son :
1. Tiger santa onigiri (white steamed rice, nori, sausage and white crab stick)
2. Homemade fish ball
3. Tofu, snow peas, and pork minced stir fried
4. Ham and carrot
5. Milk jelly with nata de coco
6. Banana for recess

And for my youngest son,
1. Ham and cheese croissant
2. Carrot stick
3. Homemade fish ball
4. Sausages
5. Milk jelly with nata de coco
6. Banana for recess

Little Panda Bento

I've seen those panda food picks in many bento creations, and finally I've got my own!. Aren't they so cute ?? :)

I made the Indonesian chicken roulade and the kids love it. Here is the recipe :

INDONESIAN CHICKEN ROULADE

Ingredients :
150 gr chicken, minced
100 gr button mushroom, diced
1 pcs little carrot, diced
1 egg
50 gr breadcrumbs
1/2 tbs red onion, minced
2 pcs garlic, minced
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
salt - as needed

For coating :
1 egg, beaten
breadcrumbs and plain flour - as needed

Method :
1. Mix all the ingredients
2. Fry a little bit of the mixture and balance the flavour as needed
3. Then roll up the mixture into cylinder with cling wrap and secure both ends.
4. Repeat until all the mixture wrapped
5. Steam the rolls for about 20 minutes
6. Open the cling wrap
7. Coat the roll with the plain flour, then go to beaten egg, and coat it with breadcrumbs.
8. Fry in the medium hot oil until turning brown.
9. Soak the excess oil with paper towel and slice.
10. Ready to serve. Work well with ketcup or sweet chili sauce.

For my youngest son, I prepared :

1. Onigiri with salmon furikake

2. Pork and mushroom siomay

3. Indonesian chicken roulade with ketchup

4. Roasted baby carrots and celery 

5. Strawberry yogurt for recess

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Onigiri with nori
2. Pork and mushroom siomay
3. Indonesian chicken roulade with ketchup
4. Roasted baby carrots
5. Chicken and broccoli stir-fried
6. Kiwi fruit for recess

You may find the panda food picks here :